Clarifying Schaffer record

On March 3, you published a letter to the editor by Kenneth Linde (“Give Franks credit”).

In that letter, Mr. Linde wrote that Metra Director Jack Schaffer “sent potentially confidential emails to the departing CEO, during a severance negotiation.”

I would like to clarify the record for your readers. As the acting general counsel who answered to the entire board of directors, I was tasked with investigating that allegation last summer.

After reviewing various correspondence and applicable law, Metra’s ethics officer and I concluded that Schaffer did not violate confidentiality or fiduciary standards when he forwarded certain emails to the former CEO.

Many of the alleged confidential documents were, in fact, public documents such as ordinances and meeting minutes or documents where the former CEO was already carbon copied.

I also asked an outside law firm not involved in the matter to review the issues, and the firm concluded the same.

Finally, I asked the law firm that worked on the severance negotiations to opine on whether the documents had a negative impact on the negotiations.